A version of this story appeared in the daily Threat Status newsletter from The Washington Times.
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Rep. Mark Green says the Trump administration is moving in the right direction on foreign policy, arguing that China is an existential threat and that gutting the U.S. Agency for International Development will further U.S. interests abroad.
In an interview with Threat Status, Mr. Green, Tennessee Republican, said the U.S. should buy “as little as possible” from China, arguing that Beijing’s economic goals threaten Western power.
“China has taken overt threatening actions to the United States with the BRICS countries to destabilize the dollar,” Mr. Green said, referring to the economic group of 10 nations, including Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. “They have cyber hacked our telecommunications. They’ve cyber hacked our infrastructure. They are hacking our military all the time. They are doing intellectual property theft against our technology that is used for our military. They are, they’re a threat.”
China has rapidly expanded its influence in South and Central America over the past decade, investing hundreds of billions of dollars to create beneficial infrastructure and foster trade. The country’s Belt and Road Initiative has shifted billions into the region for development projects, with more than 20% of China’s foreign investment landing in Latin America.
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Mr. Green said the U.S. was “asleep at the wheel” before President Trump, allowing for short-sighted economic policies that drove away manufacturing jobs.
“We saw the dollar signs, and we ran to China to manufacture cheaper and to open up their market. Well, they didn’t open up the market,” he said. “And when they did, they did it in such a controlled manner that they could turn it off, and they did. I would submit to you, we should buy as little as possible.”
Mr. Green’s “buy nothing” proposal complements Mr. Trump’s attitude toward Beijing as his administration tries to counter the country’s influence in South America. Mr. Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio asserted earlier this year that China has too much control over the Panama Canal, which could threaten U.S. economic and military interests in the region. Mr. Green, whose Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security held a hearing last month on China’s influence over the Panama Canal, says Mr. Trump’s concerns are valid.
“The ports that they have slowly accumulated all over the globe are in strategic choke points, and they are doing that with intention,” he said. “Now, in terms of launching some kind of an attack, no. But depriving our Navy, depriving us of shipping, disrupting our supply chains, all of those things are possible to dissuade us.”
Panama has rejected claims by U.S. officials that it is not in control of the canal. However, the country did announce an “exhaustive audit” of the Panama Ports Co., a subsidiary of Hong Kong shipping firm C.K. Hutchison Holdings.
Beijing’s influence operations, Mr. Green said, would further its goals of retaking Taiwan, dissuading the U.S. from getting involved if China decided to take the island militarily.
“Xi Jinping has said he will take back Taiwan in his lifetime, and after Putin and Ukraine, we gotta start believing these totalitarian dictators again,” Mr. Green told Threat Status. “When they tell us they’re gonna do something, we should be prepared for them to do it and take measures to prevent that if we can and if not, to respond when they do.”
In dealing with totalitarian leaders, Mr. Green said, Mr. Trump’s critics may be proven wrong. They have argued that during peace talks concerning the war in Ukraine, the president has been conceding too much to Russia, threatening the strength of U.S. alliances in Europe. But Mr. Green says the president is playing “four-dimensional chess.”
“We need a deal. The Ukrainians don’t have enough lives, and we don’t have enough money to fight this war forever,” Mr. Green said. “Taking this to that sort of fourth dimension or the next dimension, what if Trump wants to separate Russia from China? What if there’s a bigger goal here to say, ‘Let’s get a peace deal in Ukraine, and then let’s put a wedge between Russia and China.’ It’s just possible that he’s smarter than all of these idiots who are out there criticizing him.”
Mr. Green had a similar attitude toward criticism of Mr. Trump’s gutting of USAID. The White House, with help from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, has ended thousands of contracts and foreign aid programs. Critics contend that these cuts harm U.S. soft power and influence, while conservatives argue that U.S. foreign aid spending was excessive and needed review.
“Reevaluation of all that foreign aid is a good thing. It’s the right thing, and it allows us to take aid that was being wasted and put it in places where it’ll be used for good,” he said. “And so is there some collateral damage? Absolutely. Will we have to come back and fix that collateral damage? Yes. Honestly, we weren’t gonna get it done without a wrecking ball.”
